Byblos

Byblos SDK
Created by				Alexander Nicholi
Initial release				unreleased
Written in				ANSI C, Make, POSIX sh
OSes				Darwin/XNU, GNU/Linux
ISAs				Apple silicon, x86-64
Licence				ASL 1.1

Byblos is a software development kit developed for Sirius DOS, A* and Unix-based servers, with distinction for MILOTIX and Linux, BSD and Darwin (pan-Unix) support. It is divided into two versions: Byblos 1, a provisional SDK that uses existing compiler toolchains and host infrastructure of Unix-like operating systems, and Byblos 2, the proper SDK that provides its own C compiler, assembler, and the first C* compiler.

Byblos 1

Platform support

Byblos 1 is multi-platform. While it endeavours to target all systems of relevance to Xion Megatrends, only three host platforms are supported: GNU/Linux on Intel 64, Darwin/XNU on Intel 64 and Darwin/XNU on Apple silicon. The following table gives Byblos 1's platform support matrix with respect to building and running software in the first and second tables, respectively.

Compile time support matrix

Host	Target
	agbhb	agbsp	astar	darwin86	darwinm1	freebsd
linux64	devkitARM	devkitARM	unknown	none	none	LLVM
darwin86	devkitARM	devkitARM	unknown	hb:LLVM	hb:LLVM	hb:LLVM
darwinm1	devkitARM	devkitARM	unknown	hb:LLVM	hb:LLVM	hb:LLVM
Host	Target
	ibmpc	illumos	linux32	linux64	milotix	openbsd
linux64	djGPP	LLVM	LLVM	LLVM	unknown	LLVM
darwin86	djGPP	hb:LLVM	hb:LLVM	hb:LLVM	unknown	hb:LLVM
darwinm1	djGPP	hb:LLVM	hb:LLVM	hb:LLVM	unknown	hb:LLVM
Host	Target
	pcdos	win311	win95	winnt32	winnt64
linux64	djGPP	djGPP	MinGW	MinGW	MinGW
darwin86	djGPP	djGPP	MinGW	MinGW	MinGW
darwinm1	djGPP	djGPP	MinGW	MinGW	MinGW

Runtime support matrix

Host	Target
	agbhb	agbsp	astar	darwin86	darwinm1	freebsd
linux64	mGBA	mGBA	unknown	none	none	QEMU/u
darwin86	mGBA	mGBA	unknown	native	none	QEMU/u
darwinm1	mGBA	mGBA	unknown	Rosetta 2	native	QEMU/u
Host	Target
	ibmpc	illumos	linux32	linux64	milotix	openbsd
linux64	Bochs	QEMU/h	native-ish	native	unknown	QEMU/u
darwin86	Bochs	QEMU/h	QEMU/u	QEMU/u	unknown	QEMU/u
darwinm1	Bochs	QEMU/h	QEMU/u	QEMU/u	unknown	QEMU/u
Host	Target
	pcdos	win311	win95	winnt32	winnt64
linux64	DOSBox	DOSBox	Wine	Wine	Wine
darwin86	DOSBox	DOSBox	Wine	Wine	Wine
darwinm1	DOSBox	DOSBox	Wine	Wine	Wine

Tool list

Tool name	Description
devkitARM	devkitPro's 32-bit ARM GCC toolchain.
hb:LLVM	LLVM installed via Homebrew on macOS.
LLVM	LLVM installed on a Unix-like.
djGPP	Modified GCC for compiling 16-bit DOS programs.
MinGW	Modified GCC for targeting Microsoft Windows.
mGBA	Accurate GBA emulator.
QEMU/u	QEMU virtualisation framework, in the low-friction userland virtualisation mode.
QEMU/h	QEMU virtualisation framework, using a full-fat VM.
Bochs	Accurate IBM-PC emulator.
Wine	Translation layer for Windows programs to run on other operating systems.
Rosetta 2	Apple's transition system for running Intel Mac programs on Apple Silicon.
DOSBox	Accurate MS-DOS emulator with a focus on gaming.

Supported targets

Target	Full name	ISA	Host	ASM	C	bin	Notes
agbhb	GBA homebrew	ARMv4T	✖	✔	✔	✔	Scratch-building GBA ROMs.
agbsp	GBA sourcepage	ARMv4T	✖	✔	✔	✔	Source-patching existing GBA ROMs.
astar	Anodyne A*	unknown	✖	✖	✖	✖	Too early to specify.
darwin86	Intel Mac	x86-64 v1	✔	–	✔	–
darwinm1	Apple Silicon Mac	ARMv8	✔	–	✔	–	Only host that can target everything.
freebsd	FreeBSD	x86-64 v1	✖	✔	✔	–
ibmpc	Real mode IBM-PC	Intel i286	✖	✔	✔	✔	Not specific to any DOS conventions.
illumos	illumos/OpenIndiana	SPARC64 V9	✖	✔	✔	–
linux32	GNU/Linux 32-bit	Intel i686	✖	✔	✔	–
linux64	GNU/Linux 64-bit	x86-64 v1	✔	✔	✔	–
milotix	MILOTIX	x86-64 v3	✖	✔	✔	–
openbsd	OpenBSD	x86-64 v1	✖	✔	✔	–
pcdos	Real mode PC-DOS	Intel i286	✖	✔	✔	✔
win311	Windows 3.11	Intel i286	✖	✔	✔	–
win95	Windows 95, 98 & Me	Intel i386	✖	✔	✔	–
winnt32	Windows NT 4.0 32-bit	Intel i386	✖	✔	✔	–
winnt64	Windows NT 5.1 64-bit	x86-64 v1	✖	✔	✔	–

Notes

• binpacking is a highly portable method of compiling assets statically into binaries
• For assembly, uncertainty exists about toolchain support on macOS
• For binpacking, it may eventually work but needs further research

Programs list

To accommodate narrow columns without text rotation, this ordered list was devised to enumerate the various targets so that the programs list table can provide the operational support status thereof of each program.

1. agbhb
2. agbsp
3. astar
4. darwin86
5. darwinm1
6. freebsd
7. ibmpc
8. illumos
9. linux32
10. linux64
11. milotix
12. openbsd
13. pcdos
14. win311
15. win95
16. winnt32
17. winnt64

Utility	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Notes
Hinterlib	✔	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	libc surrogate + kernel
Inbound	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✖	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖
Outbound	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✖	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖
Rebound	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✔	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖
Earthbound	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✖	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖	✔	✔	✔	✔
Forerunner	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✔	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖
Precursor	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✖	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖
Simbel	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✖	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖
Oración	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖	✖	✖
FCC	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖	✖	✖
Quindle	✖	✖	✔	✖	✖	✖	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	A* foundation program
Gauntlet	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖
Senusret's	✖	✖	✔	✖	✖	✖	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	A* foundation program
Sirius C*	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖	✖	✖
NatPython	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✖	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖
SablMap	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖
CheckASCII	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖
Checkline	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖
Flow72	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	✔	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖

Installation

The root directory of the Byblos 1 SDK is whatever the value of the $BYBLOS environment variable is, falling back to /opt/byblos (the default value of $BYBLOS). Within this directory, the following hierarchy is observed:

Path	Description	Notes
$BYBLOS/{}	Target root	Use target's ident in place of {}
$BYBLOS/sbin	"script" binaries
$BYBLOS/include	C and C* header files
$BYBLOS/conf	Configuration settings
$BYBLOS/man	Documentation files
$BYBLOS/system	SDK internal management data	reserved for the exclusive use of the Byblos SDK; outside applications should never assume anything about this directory's contents or even that it exists at all

"Script" binaries are programs that are, by themselves, architecture independent, usually because they are interpreted or compiled just-in-time on loading. These are separated from native binaries which are, as files, specific to the architecture in use. Byblos does not support any architectures other than the one in use on a given system (more exactly, whichever µarch the running kernel is compiled for). For instance, if a user is running a "multilib" system such as on amd64 with i386 as lib32/, it will only support amd64.

The Byblos 1 SDK operates on the premise that the working development directory can be anywhere, while all tools and support files are either provided within the hierarchy above, or assumed present on the system-level. System-level utilities and libraries should be provisioned using system package managers and treated in full mutual exclusion to Byblos-specific tooling; Byblos stuff is not compiled into /usr/local, and system stuff is never compiled into $BYBLOS. Even if one must manually compile a package from source, it should never be installed with its --sysroot set to $BYBLOS! (Use /usr/local instead.)

When developing new SDK components in a source tree, they should be built and installed into $BYBLOS/local/* for testing and personal use. Packaged SDK software downloaded or installed from elsewhere will be configured to be installed into $BYBLOS/*, where it is versioned and stripped and so on.